Professor Stephen Kweku Asare, a D&D Fellow in Public Law and Justice at the Center for Democratic Development Ghana ( CDD-Ghana) has questioned the motive behind political parties’ decision to expel some of it members.

Reacting to the news of the dismissal of four top officials of the New Patriotic Party by the party, the KPMG Professor in accounting at the Fisher School of Accounting, University of Florida asserted that in a functional democracy where party membership gives the right to vote during party’s primaries, such a move could trigger ‘constitutional questions’ as according to him the right to vote emanate from the constitution which cannot be ‘assailed’ by a political party.

According to the Ghanaian-US-based Professor expelling members from a political party can go a long way to undermine the existence and operation of the political party.

He recounted that political parties receive several benefits from their members and questioned why political parties would decide to reject such benefits by expelling some of their members.

“I have never understood the idea of political parties expelling members. To be sure, I understand why a party may expel an executive member on grounds stipulated in the constitution. But what does it mean to expel Yaw Berko, an ordinary member of the party? In Umuofia, most party members have no vote at the primaries anyway. So expulsion has suffrage consequences only if one were a delegate. Some party members pay their dues.
“Expulsion means the party is rejecting future receipt of the dues. Why reject dues? Will past dues be refunded? Some members contribute to parties by way of donating funds, ideas, time, etc. They also persuade friends, family, associates, etc. I am unsure of how a party benefits from rejecting these contributions.
Professor Stephen Kweku Asare

Again, Professor Stephen Kweku Asare asserted that the most valuable contribution of a member of any political party is to vote for the political party’s candidates in general elections and explained further that it is the reason political parties work to increase their membership.

He thus cautioned that even though political parties cannot stop anyone from voting for its candidates or for that matter vote against its candidates, political parties must take precautions in their disciplinary actions against members.

Political Parties Urged To Embrace Diversity Among Membership

Furthermore, the Center for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD-Ghana) Fellow urged political parties to embrace more members and tolerate diversity in their membership.

According to him while some members of political parties are ‘ideologues’ who will resist any departures from the political party’s core values, some members are ‘partisans ‘who’ will on the other hand defend the political parties’ interests, which sometimes do not align with the party’s core values.

Additionally, Professor Asare indicated that some members of political parties are ‘loyalists’ who are committed to the ‘current officers’ and ‘leaders of the party’, even at the expense of the parties’ core values or interests.

He explained that it is important for political parties to understand that ‘current leaders’ can depart from the parties’ core values and interests while the ‘ideologues’ and the ‘partisans’ can call out and reject such departures.

According to him the ‘departure’ and ‘resistance’ relationship between the two groups often lead to frictions between ‘ideologues’ and ‘loyalists’ or among the 3 elements of the parties’ base.

“Parties should grow their membership. In Umuofia, where membership does not come with a right to vote in primaries, dismissing non-executive members does not add value, quite apart from the non-enforceability of the action. Even if a member supports an independent MP, a party should still covet his presidential vote. Even if a member supports an independent presidential candidate, a party should still covet his parliamentary vote”.
Professor Stephen Kweku Asare

Moreover, Professor Kwaku Asare expressed his regret about how the ‘loyalists’ have succeeded and driven out the ‘ideologues from most political parties in the country under the fourth republic, a situation which according to him has made political parties in the country more of ‘personality cult’ than an ideological group.

He thus encouraged political parties to move towards ‘one member one vote’ during their primaries. He asserted that such a decision is not only justified by Article 55 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana but it is also the surest way for political parties to get their members to patronize their candidates.

“The more members who vote in primaries, the higher the likelihood that members support the parties’ choices. Conversely, the fewer members who vote in primaries, the higher the likelihood that members will prefer others. Ultimately, the best way to get members’ buy-in on the parties’ choices is to make them co-sponsors of the candidates rather than impose delegates’ sponsored candidates on them”.
Professor Stephen Kweku Asare

Professor Kwaku Asare concluded by stating that the main objectives of political parties to bring together people with the same political ideas to undertake programs which advance and promote the interest of citizens justifies the need for political parties to avoid expelling ‘ordinary members’ for expressing their ideas or preferences for ‘non-party choices”.

“Of course, a political party may be narrowly defined as a vehicle for capturing political power and using that power to confer benefits on those perceived to have been central to the acquisition of power. Under this view, parties will keep a lid on “membership” to deny benefits to expelled members!!!! Parties should learn from Fomena!”.
Professor Stephen Kweku Asare